If you're older than, say, two, you know that eating fruits and vegetables should most definitely be part of your daily routine. After all, these things are "real" food. Nature's candy, if you will. But while we all know in theory that we should be eating more F & V's, how many of us actually do something about it?

Exactly.

Right around Christmas 2015, I pledged to eat healthier by incorporating more real food into my diet. And during those planning weeks, I'd mosey through the produce aisles, eyeing up which items from a farmer's bounty would make it home with me after the clock struck January 1. But then I kind of freaked out. Because eating healthfully takes, well, effort. Was I ready for that?

Listen, I get the allure of kitchen gadgets ... for the most part. They can be fun and inventive and can get everyone all excited about preparing foodstuffs. But blenders have never really done it for me. They're hard to clean and I'm always stuck with more of the finished product than I want and then I have to figure out storage after that. I mean, blenders are kind of a pain.

But when I found this little sweetie, I dove right in. You can make single-serve smoothies and drink them straight out of the cups you blend them in, if you want. No extra dishes! #Winning!

So now that I had the right gadget in place, it was time to seek out the right ingredients. Sure, one could use fresh fruit, but when it comes to that kind of stuff, I am admittedly *whispers* a little lazy. Who wants to spend time washing, de-skinning, and chopping? Not me!

Amazing discovery #2? Dole Fruit & Veggie Blends. And holy mama, are these ever delish! Our grocery store carries the Orange Medley kind (mangos, mandarin oranges, pineapple, bananas, and sweet potatoes) and the Fruit 'n Greens blend (mangos, pineapple, bananas, apples, and spinach). I buy, like, a million of these all at once because my kids drink them too, which is amazing!

Since these are nothing but frozen fruit and vegetable chunks, there is no added sugar like you get with a lot of the other packaged smoothies. We blend ours with either a low-sugar apple juice or unsweetened vanilla almond milk. The end result? A healthy, filling, satisfying smoothie that is easy to prepare, consume, and clean up after.

That, my friends, is doing "healthy eating" right!

What about you? Are you a smoothie maven? What are your favorite blends?